Professor of Law

School of Law Dean Emeritus

Deanell Reece Tacha was the Duane and Kelly Roberts Dean of Pepperdine School of Law
from 2011-2016. She was appointed by President Reagan to the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the Tenth Circuit where she served as a circuit judge from 1986-2011. She served
as Chief Judge from January 2001 through 2007. Deanell Tacha earned her bachelor of
arts degree from the University of Kansas in 1968 and her juris doctorate from the
University of Michigan in Ann Arbor in 1971. She was a White House Fellow (1971-1972).

She returned to the University of Kansas where she served as associate professor at
its School of Law from 1974-1977 and as professor of law from 1977-1985. She served
as associate dean from 1977-1979, as associate vice chancellor for Academic Affairs
from 1979-1981, and as vice chancellor for Academic Affairs between 1981-1985. In
1992, Tacha received the KU Alumni Association's Fred Ellsworth Medallion for extraordinary
service to the university and received its most prestigious award, the Distinguished
Service Citation, in 1996. In January of 2010, she was named "Kansan of the Year"
by the Native Sons and Daughters of Kansas.

Prior to joining the University of Kansas, she practiced law in Washington, D.C. and
Kansas, and was for three years Director of the Douglas County Legal Aid Clinic (1974-1977).
During her distinguished career, Tacha served as a member of the Judicial Conference
of the United States and was named in 2006 by U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John
Roberts to the Conference's Executive Committee. Previously, Chief Justice Rehnquist
appointed her to serve two terms as Chair of the Conference's Committee on the Judicial
Branch which oversees the federal judiciary's relationship with Congress and the executive
branch. Tacha also was a member of the United States Sentencing Commission which is
responsible for studying and making recommendations to Congress about federal sentencing
policy.

She has represented the judiciary of the United States internationally on several
occasions, including participating in the American College of Trial Lawyers Anglo-American
Legal Exchange among members of the bench and bar in the United States and in the
United Kingdom. In 1992, the American Bar Association selected Deanell Tacha as a
member of a delegation of lawyers and judges who traveled to Albania to assist that
nation in developing a new constitution and government, and in 2007, she represented
American judges in the Canadian-American Legal Exchange.

As a spokesperson for enhanced ethics, professionalism, and civility in the legal
profession, Deanell Tacha has been active in the American Inns of Court movement.
She helped found the Judge Hugh Means American Inn of Court in Lawrence, served on
the national Board of Trustees of the American Inns of Court, and was its national
president from 2004-2008. Her contributions to the legal profession were recognized
when she was named recipient of the Devitt Award in 2007, the highest honor given
to a federal judge for distinguished lifetime service. In 2008, she was recipient
of the John Marshall Award, which the American Bar Association bestows for positively
impacting the justice system. In 2012 she received the Christensen Award for distinguished
service from the American Inns of Court.

Deanell holds professional memberships in the American Bar Association, American Bar
Foundation (Life Member), American Law Institute (Life Member), Kansas Bar Association,
Phi Beta Kappa, and Order of Coif. She is admitted to the Bar in Kansas, Missouri,
and the District of Columbia. Additionally, she is a past chair of the Appellate Judges
Conference and a former member of the ABA's Commission on Women in the Profession.

Deanell Tacha currently serves on the California Bar Task Force on Admission to the
Bar and the California Supreme Court Power of Democracy Steering Committee. She also
serves on the National Board of Trustees of Equal Justice Works and the ABA's Rule
of Law Initiative.

She has held leadership positions in numerous civic and charitable organizations including
chairing the Kansas Territorial Sesquicentennial Commission, the Lawrence/Douglas
County Heritage Area Commission, and the Freedom's Frontier National Heritage Area
Board of Trustees. She is on the Board of Trustees of the Kansas University Endowment
Association. She has served as a member of the board of directors or as a trustee
at Kansas State Historical Society, Kansas Health Foundation, Baker University, Saint
Paul School of Theology, Lawrence Arts Center, and First United Methodist Church,
Lawrence, to name a few.

Pepperdine's School of Law provides a superior legal education that aligns personal values with areas of interest, such as dispute resolution, religion, public interest, criminal, and entertainment law.